Wis. Couple Have Baby at Nearly 100 Mph

March 23, 2007

ASHLAND, Wis. – Jereme Tauer Jr. was born at almost 100 mph as his parents hurtled down U.S. Highway 2 in northernmost Wisconsin in a Dodge Neon. His parents, Jereme and Lisa Tauer of Hurley, managed the birth without a doctor, pain medication or even stopping the car.

“We were just shocked,” said the baby’s grandmother, Billi Tauer of Hurley. “When (her son) called, he was so excited, and we thought it was just over the birth. He’s like, ‘Ma, ma, ma, we have a boy! We have a boy, we have a boy – and, and, and, you’re not going to believe – he was born in this car!”

Lisa Tauer’s contractions started about 3 a.m. Tuesday. Her husband took their 16-month-old daughter to his parents’ home and then returned to take her to the hospital.

“By the time he came back, I was standing on the street and waiting for him to get in my car,” she said. “By then, my contractions were 10 minutes apart. So I’m like, ‘OK, we have time.’”

But as Lisa, a 28-year-old manager at Fashion Bug, and Jereme, a 29-year-old carpenter and mason, sped toward the hospital, her contractions became more frequent and her water broke.

“I felt like I needed to push, and he was telling me, ‘Don’t push, just breathe,’” she said. “I was like, ‘I can’t just breathe. The breathing’s not working anymore!’”

She pushed “a little bit” and felt better. Then Jereme turned on the car’s interior light, and the surprised couple saw the baby’s head.

“I was like, ‘I better push it all the way out,’” Lisa Tauer said. “So he was holding onto the head, while I was trying to push.”

She reclined her seat as much as possible.

“I was like really high up, so the baby landed right on the seat,” Lisa Tauer said.

Her husband was driving at 90 mph to 100 mph and trying to keep an eye on the road.

“I just kind of cradled him as he came out, and watched him, watched the road. Watched him, watched the road,” Jereme Tauer Sr. said. “There wasn’t even time to stop, to hit the brakes and stop.”

With the six-pound, 13-ounce boy in the car, the couple spotted a squad car. Jereme Tauer flashed his lights, pulled over and explained the situation. The officer escorted them to Memorial Medical Center in Ashland, about 220 miles northeast of Minneapolis.

Jereme Tauer said one good thing about the experience is that he won’t forget the moment his son was born.

“I had a good look at the time, because it’s right by the dashboard,” he said. “It was 4:35.”